Line, the messaging app taking over the world one sticker at a time, just announced a new investment fund. Titled the Line Life Global Gateway, the fund will operate independently from Line Ventures, although the latter company along with Line itself are the only two parties putting up capital. The JPY 500 million (US$42 million) fund went live on February 4th and is expected to operate for 10 years.
Similar to the US$100 million gaming fund set up last summer this project is also earmarked for a specific purpose – to support startups operating in online-to-offline, ecommerce, payment, media, and entertainment industries. This shift mirrors Line’s own change in priorities. No longer content to be just a gaming and messaging company, the firm has launched a number of lifestyle apps from shopping to payments to television.
Although Line Ventures is supplying some of the money for Line Life Global Gateway, the new organization will be a completely separate subsidiary. Speaking with Tech in Asia, a Line spokesperson said that Line does not use the same investment team for its three funds. Further, they pointed out that Line keeps the funds and teams separate because they are focused on different things.
While it is plenty common to have a single investment team at a single VC firm focus on multiple verticals, Line’s approach to arranging its investments is unlikely to ruffle any entrepreneur’s feathers. The company’s name brand is strong and it is investing both in Japan and without.
See: Line CEO stepping down, COO to take over messaging app’s transformation
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